APSE. - 2. Chiusi, S. Vittore (11th cent.). (Toesca, St. dell'arte ital.). - 3. Sampierdarena, S. Bartolomeo (12th cent.). (Toesca, op. cit.). - 4. Porto, Basilica of the so-called Xenodochium of Pammachius (4th cent.). (Rivoira, Origini dell'Arch. lombarda). - 5. Bari, Cathedral (12th cent.). (Toesca, op. cit.). - 6. Como, S. Fedele (11th cent.). (Toesca, op. cit.). - 7. Carignano, SS. Giov. Battista e Remigio (18th cent.). (Brinchmann, Baukunst des 17. u. 18. Jahrh).
APSE. - 1. S. Maria di Portonovo (11th cent.). (Toesca, op. cit.). - 2. Parma, Cathedral (11th cent.). (Toesca, op. cit.). - 3. Castiglione a Casauria, S. Clemente (12th cent.). (Gavini, op. cit.). - 4. Pisa, S. Paolo a Ripa (12th cent.). (Toesca, op. cit.). - 5. Egypt, Basilica of the Red Monastery (5th cent.). (Wulff, Altchr. u. byzant. Kunst). - 6. Rome, ancient basilica of St. Peter (4th cent.). (Wulff, op. cit.). - 7. L'Aquila, S. Domenico (13th cent.). (Gavini, op. cit.). - 8. L'Aquila, S. Bernardino (15th cent.). (Gavini, op. cit.). - 9. Basilica of Turmanin (5th-6th cent.). (Wulff, op. cit.).
3. CONTEMPORARY ART
When it is not suppressed, owing to the changed conception of space and the new construction systems, in the modern age the apse often takes on its own monumental characteristics, once again assuming a prevailing scenographic importance, in function of the urban complex in which it is situated.
There is sometimes no lack in it of some element that seems a simplification of Romanesque decorative details, but the building materials employed are generally exalted for their own sake. The presence of windows depends on the interior's system of illumination, and they may even be absent when, as in many Italian or foreign examples, the end of the church is left in semi-darkness, concentrating the light in the naves.
Particular building materials and functional requirements (acoustics, lighting, etc.) that contemporary architecture values as formal elements suggest particular forms linked, more than to the peculiar character of the apse in the traditional sense, to the taste that generally governs the various current trends. v. ARCHITETTURA ECCLESIASTICA. - See Plates XI-XII-XIII-XIV.
Guglielmo Matthiae
"ABSTINENTES": v. ENCRATITI.